White Christmas looking more unlikely

Odds of a white Christmas in the UK have been cut - image Shutterstock

Published:06:00Sunday 20 December 2015

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A white Christmas looks less likely as the warm, wet and windy weather is set to continue.

Forecasters are also warning there will be more heavy rain to come for parts of the waterlogged north west already devastated by flooding from storm Desmond.

Parts of the UK have been basking in temperatures as high as 17C (62.6F) in the south while the north are experiencing 8c to 9c (46.4 to 48.2F).

And the “exceptionally warm” weather is set to continue.

With the average maximum temperature for the UK in December is 6.7C (44.06F).

Lindsay Mears from the Met Office said: “It is pretty mild for this time of year, which is quite exceptional.

“It’s due to the warm air forming in from the Atlantic and bring with it a lot of rain and cloud, which keeps the temperatures quite mild, instead of the bright clear skies which we see when temperatures go down.”

Forecasters say moving into the weekend the wind direction is set to change and come from the west bringing fresher air.

However Lindsay Mears said: “It’s only relatively fresher as the temperatures have been so high, and they will be going down to 12C and 13C, which is still well above average for the time of year.”

It looks as though mild unseasonable weather is set to continue into the festive week bringing doubts about a while Christmas.

Ms Mears said: “We are looking at a bit of an unsettled picture, so carrying on with the rain and cloudy in areas, but it’s too early yet to say what will happen yet.”

Explaining the mild spell, she said: “The weather hasn’t changed particularly, it’s just to do with where the wind coming from, and at the moment it’s coming from the Atlantic.

“Sometimes we might the continental cold air, or the Scandinavian air.

“It’s not unusual to have storms, rain, wind and cloudy weather at this time of year, but the temperatures are a lot warmer than average and are exceptionally warm for this time of year.

“But it is still very early in the winter and we are only just getting the season.”

The last time temperatures were this high was in 1994 when the mercury climbed to 17.7C (63.86) in Penkridge, Staffordshire.

Britain could be heading towards the warmest December since 1948, which saw a record high of 18.3C (64.94F) in the Highlands.